Jöns Jacob Berzelius (20.08.1779-7.08.1848) was a Swedish chemist and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1808), its president from 1810 and its permanent secretary from 1818. He was born in Väversunda. He graduated from the University of Uppsala (1802). In 1802-32 he worked at the Medico-Surgical Institute in Stockholm (professor from 1807).
For physics his research on chemical atomism played a significant part. He calculated the atomic weights of a large number of chemical elements (taking as his basis the atomic weight of oxygen, equal to 16), published in 1814 a table of the atomic weights of 41 chemical elements and introduced the notation for the elements (the chemical symbols) that is still in use today. He discovered the phenomenon of isomorphism (1819) and a number of chemical elements (Ce, Se, Si, Zr). He gave proofs of the law of multiple proportions. He accepted the reality of the existence of atoms.
An honorary member of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1820).